Fitness

I clearly remember a day in the sixth grade, sitting at my loser end of the preppy kid table during lunch, when a certain guy plopped himself down a few seats up (duh). All sixth graders had P.E. either directly before or after lunch, and this guy's exaggerated breathing and red face (and still damp nasT sixth grade excuse of a mustache) seemed to prove that great physical exertion had just been accomplished in his class. As everyone ignored his exhausted demeanor and loud sighs (which often happened with this boy), he painfully exhaled:

"You guys... I... just ran... a ten minute mile."

This got everyone's attention. "NO WAY!" "I've never done that before!" "Dude, way to go!"(The Really funny part was that a guy sitting closer to me said under his breath, "Everyone else in the class did that last month.")

At that point in my life, running was not an option. If I had to run, I jogged, and it usually ended with me tripping, starting to bleed, and the coach wagging her head and asking if I needed a bandaid. That point of my life lasted for a very long time. It wasn't until my junior year of high school that I could run a lap without stopping. And even then, that killed me. Point being, from that day on, accomplishing a ten minute mile was added to the list of things I hoped to do in my lifetime. I seriously doubted that would ever happen some days, but this is one thing that I never erased from my mental list of goals.

So in college, when I was not out on dates and avoiding my homework (so all of the hours in a day that I wasn't in class), I started going to the student gym. I forced myself to jog an entire mile--without stopping--at least twice a week during winter semester. I know this is not impressive. I know this is a sign of my unhealthiness. But some people are not cut out of the same running material that others are.

The first time I finished a mile without stopping once, I wanted to cry tears of happiness and collapse on the floor as the other much skinnier and physically fit students in the gym applauded my effort. At my high point, I could jog up to three miles without stopping. But during the second half of the semester, my gym time was cut in half and I stopped pushing myself. By the time I got a gym membership at home, I hadn't forced myself to walk faster than needed in weeks. But the lower altitude made jogging easier, and I found myself able to go faster speeds on the treadmill without feeling like I was about to fly off. Anyways, after weeks of trying and failing and trying and giving up and starting to ignore the treadmill and then trying again, TONIGHT, I DID IT. THAT'S RIGHT WORLD.

MADISON ELIZABETH MACKEY CAN RUN A TEN MINUTE MILE.

I'm pretty sure sixth grade me would be proud of myself tonight. The moral of the story is: never give up on your middle school wishes.


Now, if I could just learn how to do the Napoleon Dynamite dance...




Shout out to M-dog Anderson, who wanted me to post something that would make her laugh. If this didn't work, maybe you should watch me do my next ten minute mile. Heavy breathing and a red face will be present.